Electronic mail communicating method, apparatus and system using facsimile communication procedure

ABSTRACT

A safe electronic mail system for electronic mail communication, realizing connection between mail servers using a dial-up line not through the Internet. The transmitting party is provided with a transmission mail server, a transmission client for generation electronic mail information, and a transmission agent, which is a client for transmitting via a dial-up line. The receiving party is provided with a reception mail server, a reception client which can be the final destination of electronic mail information, and a reception agent, which is a client for receiving via a dial-up line. The transmission agent transmits electronic mail whose final destination is a designated reception client to the reception agent via the dial-up line as a facsimile image, and the reception agent transfers a received electronic mail to the reception mail server.

The current application is a continuation application of co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/021,787, filed on Dec. 17, 2001, which ishereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electronic mail communicating systemand method, and more specifically to an electronic mail communicatingsystem and method for realizing communication by electronic mail via aswitched line not through the Internet.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, along with the explosively spreading use of theInternet, electronic mail (e-mail) is extensively utilized as one of itsapplications. In this electronic mail communication, a client apparatusfor transmitting mail (transmission client) registers its own addresswith a mail server apparatus (transmission server) in advance. Whensending an e-mail, the transmission client, using the simple mailtransfer protocol (SMTP) for instance, sends an e-mail message (mail) towhich the mail address of the destination (destination address) isattached, to its own transmission server. Having accepted the mail, thetransmission server checks the destination address, and transfers themail to the mail server of the destination address (reception server).In this manner, the mail is delivered to a mail box in the receptionserver. The client apparatus receiving the mail (reception client)accesses its own mail box and, using the post office protocol (POP) forinstance, retrieves mails stacked up in the mail box. In such electronicmail communication, even if the addressee is not present, mailedinformation is automatically accumulated in the mail box of thereception server, which is the receiving party. Therefore, e-mail is anexcellent means of communication that is not constrained in time orspace.

Thus, electronic mail communication via the Internet is extremelyconvenient as well as useful for diverse purposes, and the number ofmail users via the Internet has dramatically increased in recent years,making it a common infrastructure technology in both societal andconsumer life aspects. However, where the Internet is used as thecommunication line for exchanging electronic mail, there arises thegrave problem of lack of confidentiality. Thus, when an electronic mailis sent via the Internet, the contents of the mail will be subject tothe risk of being overseen, altered or destroyed by a third party. Toeliminate this risk, sometimes a leased line may be used that does nottraverse the Internet. Unfortunately, this entails a heavy burden offacility management.

If connection to the Internet is used in parallel, security with afirewall or the like would be additionally required.

It is also conceivable to introduce a virtual private network (VPN)which would take charge of fully encrypted communication at the physicalnetwork level for communication with specific addressees, such asimportant clients or suppliers. This VPN provides a method of using anopen network, such as the Internet, as a private exclusive network, andrequires the use of a network combined with VPN-dedicated routers andfirewall products, a VPN-compatible protocol and the like. However, thiswould require all the electronic mail users involved in a specific modeof communication to use the same facilities, inevitably entailing thefinancial burdens of additional hardware and management and accordinglya lack of common usefulness.

Another method is to encrypt the text of the mail to be sent and theattached file or files and digitally sign the mail every timecommunication is initiated. However, such an arrangement wouldpresuppose installation of the same software for encrypting, such as apublic key, for both the transmission client and the reception client,and accordingly cannot be convenient for common use. The heavy load ofencrypting on the computer would also pose a major problem.

Therefore, in the operational aspect, the Internet cannot be used forthe exchange of confidential information in some cases, and as a matterof fact traditional mail, communication over switched lines andfacsimile are still frequently used instead of electronic mail.

Thus, the conventional electronic mail system using the Internet cannotsecure confidentiality by generally applicable arrangements. In view ofthis problem, it could be concluded that the connection leastsusceptible to overseeing, alteration or destruction of the communicatedcontents (secure-free connection) can be achieved by using a switchedline, not through the Internet, for connection between mail servers,when sending a highly confidential electronic mail. This secureconnection would require (1) that the switched line be connected onlywhen it is being used for electronic mail communication and be fullyopen at other times, (2) that the other party to be dialed not belimited but the destination of each electronic mail be individuallydialed and (3) that the connection be compatible with common operationwith another mode of communication service, i.e. facsimile mail.

A conceivable way to meet these requirements is the use of a dial-uprouter for secure connection. This dial-up router is a device combininga function to access an Internet service provider and a function toconnect to a LAN. A dial-up router automatically establishes connectionat a request from a computer connected to a LAN for connection to theInternet and automatically cuts it off upon termination of thecommunication, and can connect a plurality of computers to the Internetat the same time without having to do any special setting. This dial-uprouter is usually compatible on its public line side with an ISDN lineand on its LAN side with 10 Base-T of Ethernet (R). It involves lesstrouble and cost than to contract for a leased line for connection to aLAN or to connect the computers one by one to the Internet with atelephone line or the like.

However, for a dial-up router, the telephone number which is thedestination of communication usually is fixed to a specific provider,and it is impossible to establish direct connection with another partywith whom communication is desired from time to time. Its mechanism doesnot allow recognition of the particulars of intended communication, andcannot be expected to permit connection only during communication, forinstance, dialing only at the time of starting mail transmission andcutting off the connection immediately after the end of transmission.Therefore, transmission and reception of an electronic mail by secureconnection requires a function to establish connection only during theperiod of actual communication and ensure safe transmission andreception, such as the function of G3 facsimile (a communicationapparatus according to the T.30 specification of the ITU-TRecommendation of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)).

Most families and small offices use dial-up connections for mailcommunication. A dial-up connection is a form of connection using apublic line for connection to, for instance, the Internet. By this wayof connection, a user would enter into a contract with, for example, aservice provider and establish connection to the provider with a modemor a terminal adapter (TA) via a subscriber telephone line or the INSnetwork.

Now, in this way of electronic mail communication by dial-up connection,the line fee is charged as long as the line remains connectedirrespective of the actual quantity of mail communication. In mailreception, it is a so-called general delivery system, which requires theaddressee himself or herself to connect the line to check for andretrieve any delivered mail. Even when prompt processing is needed, suchas in accepting an order, the pertinent electronic mail stays in themail box of the reception server, i.e. in the POP server, which is thedeposit station of electronic mail unless the receiver himself orherself actively picks it up. Solution of this problem requiresuninterrupted connection, but this entails an extra telephone charge,which an ordinary family or a small business may be unable to afford.For instance, G3 facsimile has a function interlocked with the sender'saction to automatically accept a message and cuts off the lineconnection as soon as the communication of the message ends(straightforward signaling function), but no existing electronic mailtransmission/reception system has any such function, and a mechanism toenable the sender to immediately send an electronic mail to equipmentready to hand on the intended receiver's side is needed.

In view of the foregoing needs and limitations, an object of the presentinvention is to provide an electronic mail system excelling in safety,capable of establishing connection between mail servers, when sending anelectronic mail, over a switched line without relying on the Internet.

Another object of the invention is to realize efficient electronic mailtransmission/reception capable of reducing the turnaround time requiredfor mail delivery.

Still another object is to realize electronic mail communication betweenmail servers for direct mail delivery using communication proceduresbased on a standard protocol, such as the one prescribed in the ITU-TRecommendation T-30.

SUMMARY

To achieve these and other objectives, according to the invention, anelectronic mail system comprising a mail server and a transmission orreception client is augmented with an agent mechanism comprising dial-uptransmission/reception and client functions. It is characterized in thatelectronic mail composed in the Internet communication form are sentback and forth by this agent mechanism using, for instance, thefacsimile communication procedures according to the ITU-T RecommendationT-30, which is a general-purpose protocol. Thus, the present inventionprovides a method for communicating from a sender to a receiverelectronic mail data used via a network, characterized in that itcomprises the steps of (a) recognizing a dial number of the receivercorresponding destination address information attached to an electronicmail, (b) converting data in the electronic mail including characterdata and various attached files into an image form permitting facsimilecommunication, and (c) initiating a call to the receiver using therecognized dial number and transmitting the data of the electronic mailconverted into the transmission image form to the receiver by thefacsimile communication procedures.

If this step (b) here is characterized in that it determines thehorizontal numbers of pixels and generates data by linking them with thehorizontal number in vertical direction according to a specificationbased on the ITU-T Recommendation T-30, it will be preferable in thatsafe electronic mail communication can be realized by a simple formulawithout having to alter the standard facsimile communication protocol.

Further, the invention is superior in that, if this step (b) ischaracterized by the generation of data to be transmitted by using amail body in which electronic mail data are recognized to be a series ofbinary values, a header indicating particulars of the transmission imageform, and padding for linking the mail body and the header by adjustingthe line width of the horizontal numbers of pixels, electronic mailincluding their text information can be transmitted by facsimilecommunication procedures. This header information can include, forinstance, the file length, width information, header length and paddinglength, and the receiving party having received a mail can convert thereceived data into an electronic mail form by analyzing this headerinformation.

It is to be further noted that the transmission image form into whichconversion takes place at the conversion step involves no developmentinto a bit map image. Thus it can be defined to be something differentfrom conversion of characters, GIF or JPEG data or the like into afacsimile image as a visible data form as in usual facsimilecommunication.

Viewed from another aspect, an electronic mail communicating method towhich the invention is applicable comprises the steps of: (a) retrievingmail information stored in a server to be transmitted over a switchedline from the server; (b) selecting a specification of communicationneeded for communication over the switched line from a network addresscontained in the retrieved mail information; and (c) initiating a callto the switched line using the selected specification of communication,and transmitting the mail information according to general-purposefacsimile communication procedures to a receiving apparatus connectedvia this switched line.

The retrieving step (a) can be characterized by the recognition that themail information is to be transmitted from the network address accountvia the switched line but not via the Internet. For instance, theaddress of the client who is the destination of the transmission of mailinformation can be added besides the final destination address. Theselection of the specification of communication can be so composed as toselect the dial number of a receiving apparatus capable of receivingmail information by communication based on the ITU-T Recommendation T-30at a reception network, according to the final destination address.

On the other hand, an electronic mail communicating method to which theinvention is applicable comprises the steps of: (a) receiving datacontaining electronic mail information converted into an image formpermitting facsimile communication from a sender by general-purposefacsimile communication procedures; (b) converting the received datainto electronic mail information; (c) analyzing a destination containedin the electronic mail information based on the converted electronicmail information; (d) generating reply information to the received andconverted electronic mail information; and (e) converting the generatedreply information into the transmission image form and sent to thesender.

If it is characterized in that, if a terminal with a correspondingdestination to the analyzed destination is not connected to an internalnetwork, the reply information representing the absence of any relevantdestination for the sender is generated, the sender is enabled torecognize destination absence information as in usualtransmission/reception of an electronic mail via the Internet.

Or if received data contain no electronic mail information, a usualfacsimile reception operation will take place.

According to the invention, there is also provided an electronic mailtransmitting apparatus for transmitting electronic mail data to areceiver using a switched line not through the Internet, comprising: acommunication specification determination unit for determining thespecification of communication on receiver side needed for communicationover the switched line based on destination address information forexternal network data such as the Internet assigned to an electronicmail; a conversion unit for converting electronic mail data into thedata form to be transmitted into a data form needed for communicationover the switched line; and a transmission unit for transmitting to thereceiver, in accordance with the determination specification ofcommunication, using only the switched line without using the Internet.

This communication specification determination unit here can becharacterized in that correspondence information among destinationaddress information for a network assigned to electronic mail data, adial number of the receiver and a communication procedure based on theITU-T Recommendation T-30 is stored in advance as address tableinformation for instance, and the specification of communication isdetermined based on the stored correspondence information. Thisconfiguration makes possible unique determination of the telephonenumber and the like according to the final destination addressinformation.

If this conversion unit is so characterized that it considers datacontained in the electronic mail data as a series of binary values, andconverts the data form by adjusting the line widths, which are thehorizontal numbers of pixels, such that it conforms the general-purposefacsimile communication procedures, it will be preferable in thatelectronic mail information can be transmitted as a general-purposepseudo-image file of the ITU-T Recommendation T-30 protocol.

Viewed from another aspect, an electronic mail transmitting apparatus towhich the invention is applicable may have the following constitution.Thus, this electronic mail transmitting apparatus is characterized inthat it comprises: a mail retrieving unit for picking up from a servermail information to be transmitted over a switched line not through theInternet, a communication specification determination unit fordetermining the specification of communication needed for communicationover the switched line based on a network address contained in thepicked-up mail information; and a transmission unit for initiating acall on the switched line using the determined specification ofcommunication and transmitting the mail information to a receivingapparatus connected via the switched line by communication based ongeneral-purpose facsimile communication procedures.

This mail retrieving unit here is characterized in that it recognizesits destination described for communication to pass via this unit aswell as a description of the final destination in the network addressaccount, and retrieves the mail information. This constitution isexcellent in that, for instance, a transmission client requestingtransmission of an electronic mail can safely transmit a confidentialelectronic mail only by adding the destination of a transmission agentperforming communication based on the ITU-T Recommendation T-30 to thedescription of the final destination.

On the other hand, a mail receiving apparatus according to the inventionis characterized in that it receives electronic mail data converted intoa form permitting facsimile communication from a sender via a switchedline not through the Internet, and comprises: a receiving unit forreceiving data from the sender via the switched line by general-purposefacsimile communication procedures; a restoring unit for restoring thereceived data into electronic mail data; and a transferring unit fortransferring the restored electronic mail data to a server connected toan internal network.

The apparatus may be further characterized in that it additionallycomprises: a destination recognition unit for recognizing a destinationout of the restored electronic mail data; and a notification unit forsending, if the recognized destination doesn't exist in the internalnetwork, information on no destination to the sender.

Further, an electronic mail communication system according to theinvention comprises: a transmission mail server connected to theInternet; a transmission client connected to the transmission mailserver to instruct transmission of electronic mail; and a transmissionagent to function as a client to the transmission mail server, whereinthis transmission client outputs, to the transmission mail server,electronic mail data containing the description of the destination ofthe transmission agent as well as a description of the final maildestination, and the transmission agent retrieves electronic mail datain which its destination is described from the mail server and transmitsthe electronic mail data over a switched line using facsimilecommunication procedures.

On the other hand, according to the invention, there is provided anelectronic mail communicating system for transmitting/receivingelectronic mail information between an internal network on a sender sideand an internal network on a receiver side, wherein this internalnetwork of the sender side comprises: a transmission mail server; atransmission client for generating electronic mail information; and atransmission agent which is a client having a function for transmittingthe electronic mail information via a switched line not through theInternet, the internal network of the receiving party comprises: areception mail server; a reception client which can be the finaldestination of electronic mail information, and a reception agent whichis a client having a function for receiving the electronic mailinformation via the switched line not through the Internet, thistransmission agent transmits an electronic mail message whose finaldestination is a designated reception client to the reception agent viathe switched line not through the Internet, and the reception agenttransfers the received electronic mail to the reception mail server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an electronic mail system to which theinvention is applicable;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the functional constitution of agents(the transmission agent 13 and the reception agent 23);

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of processing by the transmission agent 13;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating one example of the address informationtable 41;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating one example of transmitted image fileform using BII (binary in image) in an exemplary embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating exemplary contents of the header 61shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of address conversion in an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing execution procedures according to T.30 towhich the invention is applicable; and

FIG. 9 shows a T.30 command sequence that is accomplished by theelectronic mail communicating method of an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will be described in detail below with referenceto an exemplary embodiment thereof illustrated in accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates the overall constitution of an electronic mail systemto which the invention is applicable. FIG. 1 shows a case in which, forexample, Company A 14 and Company B 24 are operating electronic mailsystems, wherein Company A 14 and Company B 24 can transmit or receiveelectronic mail via the Internet 31, which is an external network.Further in this embodiment, transmission/reception of electronic mail ismade possible via a dial-up line (switched line) 32 not through theInternet 31. This dial-up line (switched line) 32 may be a publiccommunication line available from NTT (Nippon Telegraph and TelephoneCorporation) or the like. The Company A side comprises a transmissionmail server 11 connected to the Internet 31, a transmission client 12for generating a transmission mail and requesting the transmission mailserver 11 to transmit it, and a transmission agent 13, connected to thedial-up line 32, for transmitting an electronic mail to Company B 24 inaccordance with the ITU-T Recommendation T-30 protocol at the request ofthe transmission mail server 11. These elements constitute an internalnetwork. The transmission agent 13, having a client function for thetransmission mail server 11 augmented with an agent function and asetting function, can be positioned as a facsimile server.

On the part of Company B 24 on the other hand, an internal networkincludes a reception mail server 21 connected to the Internet 31, areception client 22 for picking up an electronic mail from the receptionmail server 21, and a reception agent 23, connected to the dial-up line32, for receiving an electronic mail transmitted in accordance with theITU-T Recommendation T-30 protocol and handing over the receivedelectronic mail to the reception mail server 21. This reception agent23, which is one of the clients to the reception mail server 21,functions as a facsimile server. A facsimile apparatus 33 of a thirdparty user C is also connected to the dial-up line 32.

First, when the transmission client 12 is to transmit an electronic mailto the reception client 22 via the Internet 31, as according to theprior art, in order to make possible reception in accordance with a postoffice protocol (POP) for instance, the electronic mail is sent from thetransmission mail server 11 to the reception mail server 21, which is aPOP server. The electronic mail having arrived at the reception mailserver 21 is retrieved by an operation of the reception client 22. Inthis case, if the reception mail server 21 and the reception client 22are connected by a LAN, access is possible at any time, and accordinglythe electronic mail can be picked with little time lag, though thecontent is not forcibly displayed upon transmission. Nor is there anysafety guarantee because the transmission takes place via the Internet31.

On the other hand in this embodiment, the transmission client 12 cangive an instruction to the transmission mail server 11 to transmit anelectronic mail with a routing designation to transmit it via thedial-up line 32. In such a case, the transmission mail server 11 gives atransmitting instruction to send the electronic mail not via theInternet 31 but with a designation of the transmission agent 13. Thetransmission agent 13 converts the text information of the electronicmail, including tag information, into image data, which are transmittedto the reception agent 23 via the dial-up line 32. This conversion intoimage data is accomplished by fitting the binary data into the facsimilecommunication form as they are without involving a step of developingelectronic mail information into a bit map image. For thetransmission/reception of data, a general-purpose protocol prescribed inthe ITU-T Recommendation T-30 is used as in usual transmission/receptionbetween G3 facsimile apparatuses.

The reception agent 23, having received the electronic mail convertedinto image data, recognizes tag information in the data, and can therebyknow that the information that follows is electronic mail information.The reception agent 23, on the basis of the recognized tag information,converts the electronic mail in the image data form into textinformation, and outputs it to the reception mail server 21 as anelectronic mail. The reception client 22 can receive the electronic mailby accessing the reception mail server 21 in the same way as usualelectronic mail reception.

Now it is supposed that, for instance, the transmission agent 13 dials awrong number and electronic mail information is received by thefacsimile apparatus 33 of user C having no part whatsoever in thiscommunication. As this embodiment uses the common ITU-T RecommendationT-30 protocol, it is possible for user C's facsimile apparatus 33 toreceive the data. However, user C's facsimile apparatus 33 cannotrecognize the tag information contained in image data handled by thisembodiment of the invention. Therefore, the received image data arehandled like usual encoded image data, and decoded as such. As a result,user C cannot read the text information in the electronic mail which,though printed, is outputted in an unrecognizable state (e.g.consecutive stripes or the like). Thus, even if mail information istransmitted to a wrong destination, this embodiment can keep thecontents of the electronic mail from leaking to any third party andthereby ensure its confidentiality.

Next will be described the functions and operations of the agents (thetransmission agent 13 and the reception agent 23), which arecharacteristic constituent elements of this embodiment, with referenceto FIG. 2 through FIG. 6.

FIG. 2 illustrates the functional constitution of the agents (thetransmission agent 13 and the reception agent 23). As its functionalelements, each of the agents is provided with an electronic mail clientfunction 48 and a LAN system 49, which perform usual functions of a mailclient. With this electronic mail client function 48, it can transmit orreceive electronic mail as a client, and this LAN system 49 functions asan infrastructure for network connection purpose. The agent functions inthis embodiment include an address information table 41 regardingaddress management, an address information table management referencingmechanism 42, a mail retrieving mechanism 43, a BII (binary in image)conversion mechanism 44, a communication result response mechanism 45, aT.30 communication mechanism 46, and facsimile communication hardware47. Conceivable hardware constitutions for the transmission agent 13 andthe reception agent 23 include a usual personal computer comprising aFAX engine or a FAX card, and agent applications. Another of manyconceivable hardware constitution is a usual facsimile apparatus mountedwith the functions enumerated above.

The address information table 41 has a comparative table for convertingaddress information on an electronic mail destination into a telephonenumber. The address information table management referencing mechanism42, after reading the destination information on an electronic mail in,references the address information table 41 to determine the telephonenumber of the destination having this destination information. The mailretrieving mechanism 43 monitors the presence of any electronic mailstored in a mail server (the transmission mail server 11) as deliveredvia the dial-up line 32 and, if any electronic mail is found,automatically picks it up. For example, if the destination accounts ofelectronic mail generated by the transmission client 12 contain anaccount beginning with “faxa13-” or one in which the transmission agent13's address is included, it can be judged that this mail is to betransmitted via the transmission agent 13.

The BII conversion mechanism 44 subjects an electronic mail to beconverted to image conversion into the BII (binary in image) form sothat it can be transmitted in the standard T.30 image transmission mode.The communication result response mechanism 45 executes processing toreverse the transmitting right after BII transmission and to receive aresponse BII transmitted from the agent (e.g. the reception mail server21) on the receiver side. The T.30 communication mechanism 46 has afunction to perform transmission/reception processing includingfacsimile protocol and encoding processing based on the ITU-TRecommendation T-30 between the transmission agent 13 and the receptionagent 23. The facsimile communication hardware 47 includes physicalconstituent elements necessary for facsimile communication, such as amodem.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of processing by the transmission agent 13.First, the transmission agent 13, with its mail retrieving mechanism 43,judges whether or not any electronic mail it has to transmit exists inthe transmission mail server 11 (step 101), and monitors the arrival ofany electronic mail at the transmission agent 13. If there is noelectronic mail to be transmitted, the lapse of time is awaited (step102), and judgment at step 101 is again made. If any electronic mail tobe transmitted is found at step 101, the electronic mail is retrieved(step 103). Then, a comment is taken out of the address shown in theelectronic mail to make it the original destination, and other aspectsof destination conversion are done (step 104).

Next, the address information table 41 is referenced, and the addressinformation table management referencing mechanism 42 extracts thetelephone number, the type and quality of the line and other necessaryinformation for T.30 (step 105). The BII conversion mechanism 44subjects the electronic mail text to BII conversion (step 106). Then,transmission is executed using the protocol prescribed in T.30 (step107). After that, the response BII generated by the reception agent 23is received as a result message (step 108) to complete the sequence ofprocessing, followed by a return to step 101 at the outset.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the address information table 41.Typical electronic mail would have items of address informationincluding destination information and sender information, and a POPserver would be selected according to this address information. However,since this embodiment transmits an electronic mail using a facsimilecommunication formula via the dial-up line 32 not through the Internet31, address information on the electronic mail used on the Internet 31by itself is inadequate. Therefore, the address information table 41stores telephone numbers corresponding to destinations of electronicmails in a tabular form. Herein, accounts 51 which are information foridentifying users, dial numbers (telephone numbers) 52 of agents(facsimile communication apparatuses) to be needed when connecting tothe dial-up line 32, genuine host names 53 for use in connection to theInternet, called subscriber identification (CSI) information 52, onesign of which is provided to identify each account 51, and other T.30information items 55 are stored, each associated with one account 51 oranother.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of transmitted image file using a BII(binary in image) form in this embodiment. Since transmission data underT.30 essentially derive from the signal-converted result of scanning andfeeding a two-dimensional page in an A4, B4, A3 or any other size, thespecification of transmit/receive data can be expressed in line width ofthe horizontal numbers of pixels (W) line number (L). The line width (W)can be selected out of:

2432 bits (304 bytes),2048 bits (256 bytes),1728 bits (216 bytes).

Unless otherwise specified, the line width (W) is set by default to 2048bits (256 bytes). The line number (L) can be either the recording lengthon each page in the vertical direction or unlimited.

A BII in this embodiment consists of a header 61, a padding 62 and amail body 63. Hs in FIG. 5 represent the header 61 part, Ps, the padding62 part and Ms, the mail body 63 part. If the size of the mail text 63fails to be an integral multiple of, for instance, 2048 bits (256bytes), which is the line width (W) of the BII, the padding 62 willcompensate for the difference. There is no limit to the line number (L)of the header 61. However, it is helpful to set Padding_length value(value of P), which is the length of the padding 62, and this value isset and shown in the header 61. A BII file that is finally made willhave a normal format of, for instance, 2048 bits (256 bytes) in linewidth (W). At the same time, a computer file, such as a mail fileconsisting of character data and the like, is recognized to be a seriesof binary values, and become a general-purpose pseudo-image file whichcan be transferred according to T.30 by adding necessary informationthereto.

FIG. 6 shows typical contents of the header 61 shown in FIG. 5. Asinformation items of the header 61, for instance, “File_length”indicating the length of the file, “Width” indicating the line width (W)of the BII, “Header_length” indicating the length of the header 61, and“Padding_length” indicating the length of the padding 62 as mentionedabove are shown. In FIG. 6, each value is expressed in bytes. Theseitems of information in the header 61 can indicate, when the BII file istransferred from the transmission agent 13 to the reception agent 23,the transferred data are not usual image data but an electronic mailtransmitted as an application of this embodiment. These informationitems in the header 61 are also used in developing the BII filetransferred by the reception agent 23.

The BII file generated as described above is encoded into a compressedimage form so that it can be actually transmitted in accordance with theT.30 protocol. Thus, according to this formula, data which have beencreated by encoding (compressing) a sequence of pixels set to a widthof, for instance, 2048 bits (256 bytes) by an established method aretransmitted and received using the T.30 protocol. The encoding method tobe used here can be selected from, for example, MH (Modified Huffman),MR (Modified READ) and MMR (Modified MR) encoding methods, though MHencoding is preferable unless otherwise specified. This is because thecompression ratio of MMR is not necessarily the highest for usual binaryfiles though MMR is the highest for general image data, and accordinglyMH which references no preceding line is considered more preferable.

FIG. 7 charts the flow of address conversion in this embodiment. At step111 of FIG. 7 is shown a case in which an account name is designated viathe dial-up line 32 by Company A's transmission client 12. The host nameof the transmission client 12 is supposed to be “here.com”. It issupposed that “tanaka” who is the transmission client 12 desires to sendan electronic mail via a switched line to the account of “yamada” whosehost name is “there.com” in another electronic mail system. When“tanaka” is to transmit via the transmission agent 13, which is afacsimile server, it designates the other party's account as“faxa13-yamada” and its host name to be the same as its own, “here.com”.

Next, it being assumed that every account beginning with “faxa13”, likethe other party's account “faxa13-yamada”, is to be transmitted via thetransmission agent 13, the mail retrieving mechanism 43 of thetransmission agent 13 retrieves an electronic mail from the transmissionmail server 11 (step 112). Then, the address information tablemanagement referencing mechanism 42 of the transmission agent 13performs correlation with the address information table 41 (step 113)and converts the address. The results of conversion include the dialnumber, the account name and the host name of the text (step 114), andthey are handed over to the T.30 communication mechanism 46 and the BIIconversion mechanism 44.

It is also possible to use some other form than that of the addressshown in this FIG. 7. Thus, where the transmission client 12 requirestransmission via the dial-up line 32, the destination can be describedin the manner of destination description of transmission via thetransmission agent 13. For instance, a destination description oftransmission via the transmission agent 13 can be designated, forexample, the final destination (yamada@bbb.co.jp) in a standard commentand the destination (agent@aaa.co.jp) of the transmission agent 13 asthe direct destination can be designated, such as yamada@bbb.co.jp agentaaa.co.jp instead of the usual address (account name+the host name (e.g.yamada@bbb.co.jp)). Thus, the electronic mail is once transmitted to thetransmission agent 13 to entrust transmission via the dial-up line 32.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of the execution procedures in accordance withT.30 to which this embodiment is applicable. The flow on the left siderepresents the electronic mail transmission from the transmission agent13, which is the transmitting party (sender station), and that on theright side, the processing flow of electronic mail reception by thereception agent 23, which is the receiving party (receiver station). Thetransmission agent 13 first places the public communication line in anoff-hook state (step 201) to detect a dial tone (step 202). If no dialtone is detected, the line is not connected yet, and accordinglyprocessing is interrupted. If a dial tone is detected, a telephonenumber obtained from the address information table 41 is dialed (a callis initiated) (step 204). On this occasion, the length of waiting timeis adjusted as required. If dialing ends up with a busy tone, redialingis done after some interval. If no connection is achieved after aprescribed number of attempts, an end code indicating impossibility ofconnection is shown.

After that, upon detection of a CED (CallEd station IDentification) sentfrom the receiving party (the reception agent 23), the transmittingparty (the transmission agent 13) judges that connection has beenestablished (step 205). If connection has not yet been established, itis checked whether or not redialing has been done (step 206) and, ifnot, redialing is done (step 207). If redialing has been done,processing is interrupted (step 203), and the transmission client 12 isnotified of the interruption. Then a called subscriber information (CSI)signal is received from the receiving party, and its content is checked(step 208). The transmission agent 13 can use this CSI signal as the IDsign for identifying the receiving station. This ID sign is collatedwith the CSI value described in the address information table 41 and, ifno identity is found, the line connection is immediately cut off (step211), and a result message mail is sent to the transmission client 12,who is the transmission requester.

Next, the transmission agent 13 checks whether or not a digitalidentification signal (DIS) has been received (step 209). If no DIS hasbeen received, the communication is interrupted (step 211). If it hasbeen, it is checked from this DIS information whether or not errorcorrection mechanism (ECM) bits (27 bits) are ON (step 210). ECM isindispensable for error-free communication, and if the ECM bits are notON, it is judged that the receiving party has no associated function,and the communication is interrupted by reason of an assumed shift ofthe other party (a telephone number change) (step 211). A DIS treats 0through 31 bits as a field in the standard mode, and 32 bits and beyondas a field in the augmented mode. The ECM bits are allocated to 27 bitsof the DIS.

Further, as an analysis of the DIS, it is checked whether or not thesubaddress capacity (SUB) bit (bit 49) is on. The subaddress isnecessary for the transmitting party to declare itself as a facsimileserver to transmit an electronic mail and for the receiving party toconfirm the declaration. If the other party lacks this capacity, theprocessing is interrupted by reason of an assumed shift of the otherparty (a telephone number change). Following that, the imagetransmitting capacity (bits 16 and 31), recording width capacity (bits17 and 18) and recording length capacity (bits 19 and 20) of thereceiving party are checked. Confirmation of these capacities isnecessary for determining the data from in which actual electronic maildata are to be sent. The standard specification would require a B4 widthand an infinite length.

Upon confirmation of the other party's equipment capacities and theother party's status as a legitimate facsimile server, electronic maildata are converted into a BII form. The most suitable form for theearlier confirmed capacities of the other party's equipment isdetermined. On the basis of this determination, the value of thetransmitting party's digital command signal (DCS) is determined. Then,first a transmitting subscriber identification (TSI) signal in which thetransmitting party's legitimate international telephone number is set issent (step 213), a SUB in which a predetermined domain number of theother party's equipment is set is sent (step 214), and the DCS is sent(step 215). Sending of this SUB makes it possible, when reception takesplace from a number of servers, to know, the moment an electronic mailis received without checking the telephone number, by the subaddressfrom which server it has been received.

After confirming the reception of a confirmation to receive (CFR)signal, indicating the completion of negotiation from the other party'sequipment (the reception agent 23), which is the receiving party, BIItransmission is performed (step 216). Also, to confirm the reception ofa message confirmation message (MCF), which is a confirmation ofreception by the other party's equipment, and to obtain a response fromthe other party's equipment, the transmitting right is reversed (step217). Then, a response message BII is received from the other party'sequipment is received (step 218) to complete the communication, and theline connection is cut off (step 219).

On the other hand, the reception agent 23, which is the receiving party,if there is no transmission mail from the transmission agent 13, whichis the transmitting party, is in a state of standby for an arriving call(step 301). Upon detection of any arriving call, the reception agent 23responds to arriving call (step 302), and can check the calling party'stelephone number by a called line identification presentation (CLIP) ifnecessary (step 303). It compares the telephone number so obtained withtelephone numbers of potential calling parties registered in its ownaddress information table 41. If no associated number is found, the lineconnection is cut off by reason of an assumed abnormal access (step304). If it is no abnormal access, the reception agent 23 sends a CED tothe transmission agent 13, which is the transmitting party (step 305).After that, a CSI is sent (step 306), and a DIS is also sent (step 307).This CSI should contain the sending party's international telephonenumber entry in the legitimate CSI form in accordance with T.30. The DISvalue indispensably needs an ECM and a B4 size.

After that, the TSI sent from the transmission agent 13, which is thetransmitting party, is checked (step 308), the SUB is checked (step 309)and the contents of the DCS are checked (step 310). If these conditionsfail to be met, the line connection will be cut off (step 311). If theyare met, electronic mail reception in the BII form will follow (step312). Then, the result of reception is outputted to the reception mailserver 21, and its result is generated in the BII form. The transmittingright is reversed (step 313), and a BII, which is the message, istransmitted to the transmitting party (step 314). After confirmation ofthe completion of the transmission of this response message, the lineconnection is cut off (step 315). Thus, this embodiment is soconstituted that the management number, serial number and the like ofthe sending party be sent back in a single round of facsimilecommunication by transmitting the BII, which is the response message, tothe transmitting party. This makes it possible, where this mailtransmitting method according to the formula is adopted as in the caseof an ordinary electronic mail, to return a mail whose host name isfound wrong at the destination, for instance, and to let the completionof communication be known on the basis of the actual content ofcommunication instead of the form.

FIG. 9 shows a T.30 command sequence that is accomplished by theelectronic mail communicating method of this embodiment. The left sideof the diagram represents the transmission agent 13, which is thetransmitting party, and the right side, the reception agent 23, which isthe receiving party (the called station). As illustrated, after acalling (CNG: 1100 Hz) signal from the transmitting party is sent first,a CED (2100 Hz), a CSI and a DIS are returned from the receiving party.After that, a TSI, a SUB and DCS are sent from the transmitting party.After that, modem training by the receiving party is confirmed, and atraining check (TCF) to find out whether or not a channel can be used atthis transfer speed is outputted from the transmitting party. Sending ofa CFR, which is a response signal accompanying the completion ofprocedures by the receiving party, from the receiving party against thisis awaited, the transmission of mail information in the above-describedBII form takes place.

After the transmission of the mail information, the receiving party isnotified of the absence of any other mail information to be transmittedby an end of procedures (EOP) signal. Then, to transfer the messagetransmitting right to the receiving party, a digital transmit command(DTC) is sent. Having received this DTC, the receiving party, aftersending a message confirmation (MCF) signal and a DCS, sends a TCF,against which the transmitting party sends a CFR, which is a responsesignal. Having received this CFR, the reception agent 23, which is thecalled station, transmits a response message in the above-described BIIform to the transmission agent 13, which is the call initiating station.After that, the reception agent 23 sends an EOP, the transmission agent13 sends an MCF, and the reception agent 23 sends a disconnect (DCN)signal, which results in cutting off the connection. Electronic mailcommunication using facsimile procedures by this embodiment is therebyended.

As hitherto described in detail, this embodiment makes possibleelectronic mail communication permitting extensive interconnections inaccordance with the G3 protocol, and further makes possible thecontinuation of connection only during the length of time actuallyneeded for the transmission of each electronic mail. Thus, theturnaround time, which is the length of time taken by a set ofinformation to go round the system to deliver an electronic mail, is farshorter than what is currently in service for electronic mailcommunication, and the efficiency of dial-up line use can besignificantly enhanced. This system readily makes possible communicationby dial-up connection on an independent route from the IP communicationnetwork as such as desired by the transmitting party. It can alsoprovide users with electronic mail communication functions excellent insafety.

Although the foregoing description of this embodiment supposes the useof a G3 communication control formula based on the ITU-T RecommendationT-30, obviously any other formula can be adopted as long as it followsthe spirit of the present invention.

1. An electronic mail communicating method, comprising the steps of: (a)retrieving mail information stored in a server to be transmitted over aswitched line from the server, wherein the mail information originatesin an electronic mail format; (b) selecting a specification ofcommunication needed for communication over the switched line from anetwork address contained in said mail information; and (c) initiating acall to said switched line using the selected specification ofcommunication, and transmitting said mail information according tofacsimile communication procedures to a receiving apparatus connectedvia the switched line, wherein the receiving apparatus converts saidmail information from the selected specification of communication to theelectronic mail format; wherein the step of converting comprises thestep of determining a horizontal number of pixels and generating data bylinking the data with the horizontal number in a vertical directionaccording to a specification based on ITU-T Recommendation T-30; and (d)forwarding said mail information from the receiving apparatus to thenetwork address according to the electronic mail format.
 2. Theelectronic mail communicating method as set forth in claim 1, whereinthe step of retrieving comprises the step of retrieving said mailinformation with recognition that the mail information is to betransmitted from said network address via said switched line.
 3. Anelectronic mail communicating method, comprising the steps of: (a)receiving data containing electronic mail information converted on asender from an electronic mail format into an image form permittingfacsimile communication from the sender, wherein said electronic mailinformation originates in the electronic mail format, wherein the stepof converting comprises the step of determining a horizontal number ofpixels and generating data by linking the data with the horizontalnumber in a vertical direction according to a specification based onITU-T Recommendation T-30; (b) converting said received data intoelectronic mail information; (c) analyzing a destination contained inthe converted electronic mail information; (d) generating replyinformation to converted electronic mail information; (e) convertingsaid reply information into said image form on a receiver and sendingthe converted reply information to the sender.
 4. The electronic mailcommunicating method as set forth in claim 3, wherein, if a terminalwith a destination corresponding to said analyzed destination is notconnected to an internal network, reply information representing absenceof any relevant destination is generated.
 5. The electronic mailcommunicating method as set forth in claim 3, wherein, if received datadoes not contain electronic mail information, conventional facsimilereception operation takes place.
 6. An electronic mail transmittingapparatus, comprising: a mail retrieving unit for retrieving from aserver mail information to be transmitted over a switched line, whereinsaid mail information originates in an electronic mail format; acommunication specification determination unit for determining aspecification of communication for communication over the switched linebased on a network address contained in said mail information retrievedby said mail retrieving unit; wherein said communication specificationdetermination unit stores in advance correspondence information amongdestination address information for a network assigned to electronicmail data, a dial number of said receiver and a communication procedurebased on ITU-T Recommendation T-30, and determines the specification ofcommunication based on the stored correspondence information; and atransmission unit for initiating a call on said switched line using saidspecification of communication determined by said communicationspecification determination unit and transmitting said mail informationto a receiving apparatus connected via the switched line by facsimilecommunication, wherein the receiving apparatus converts the mailinformation back into the electronic mail format.
 7. A mail receivingapparatus for receiving electronic mail data originating in anelectronic mail format that has been converted into a form permittingfacsimile communication from a sender via a switched line, comprising: areceiving unit for receiving data from said sender via said switchedline by facsimile communication; a restoring unit for restoring saiddata received by said receiving unit into electronic mail data; and atransferring unit for transferring said electronic mail data restored bysaid restoring unit to a server connected to an internal network.
 8. Theelectronic mail receiving apparatus, as set forth in claim 7, furthercomprising: a destination recognition unit for recognizing a destinationof the electronic mail data based on said electronic mail data restoredby said restoring unit; and a notification unit for notifying the senderif the destination recognized by said destination recognition unit isnot in said internal network.
 9. An electronic mail communicationsystem, comprising: an Internet-connected transmission mail server; atransmission client connected to the transmission mail server toinstruct transmission of electronic mail; and a transmission agentconnected to a switched line to function as a client to the transmissionmail server, wherein said transmission client outputs, to saidtransmission mail server, electronic mail data in an electronic mailformat that includes a description of a destination of said transmissionagent and a description of a final mail destination, and wherein saidtransmission agent retrieves electronic mail data in which thedestination of the transmission agent is described by said transmissionclient from said transmission mail server and transmits the electronicmail data using facsimile communication procedures using the switchedline to a receiving apparatus that reconverts the electronic mail datainto an electronic mail format.
 10. An electronic mail communicationsystem for transmitting and receiving electronic mail informationbetween an internal network on a sender side and an internal network ona receiver side, wherein the internal network on the sender sidecomprises a transmission mail server, a transmission client forgenerating electronic mail information, and a transmission agent whichis a client having a function for transmitting the electronic mailinformation in a facsimile format via a switched line; the internalnetwork on the receiver side comprises a reception mail server, areception client which is a final destination of the electronic mailinformation, and a reception agent which is a client having a functionfor receiving the electronic mail information via a switched line,wherein the electronic mail information is converted from the facsimileformat back into the electronic mail format on the receiver side; saidtransmission agent transmits an electronic mail message whose finaldestination is said reception client designated by said transmissionclient to said reception agent via said switched line; said receptionagent transfers said electronic mail received via said switched line tosaid reception mail server in an electronic mail format.